Job 19:23














Job awaits a final "judgment," of which he reminds his friends (ver. 29). At present he is the accused one; and all appearances go to condemn him. True, his "record is on high." He knows that he has held fast his integrity. But he looks forward to a final vindication. He would, therefore, have his words "written," "printed in a book," "graven with an iron pen and lead in the rook for ever." This is the final cry of the consciously upright one. It is the triumph of integrity over false accusation. He can wait for judgment. He has turned his tearful eyes to God, who has delivered him for a time to the ungodly, but who will appear for him yet in due time. It is here that Job makes the noble boast in confidence of a Divine justification. It is one of the grandest utterances of faith. It has become the watchword of hope to succeeding generations. The interpretations of the words have been various. Job may have uttered words the full meaning of which he did not himself wholly perceive. In the Vindicator of his honour he may not have seen the Redeemer of the race; or have guessed that the God in whose redemption he trusted would appear in human flesh to redeem the race from the accuser - to redeem, not Item human condemnation merely, but from the Divine, just condemnation. We have the highest warrant for finding in "Moses and all the prophets," and "in all the Scriptures," references to "things concerning" the Christ (Luke 24:27). The passage is an illustration of this progressive character of the revelation. Buried in the old Scriptures were "the things concerning" the Christ; but it was needful they should be "expounded." Even the prophets did not all know "what the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify." Thus unconsciously Job, with others, ministers to the faith of the world.

I. In Job's avenger, vindicator, or redeemer, is to be seen THE HIDDEN TYPE AND PROMISE OF THE UNIVERSAL REDEEMER. That for which one looked all may look. Not only the Vindicator of the innocent and the upright, but the "Justifier of the ungodly."

II. In the redemption of Job's honour may be hidden THE WORK OF HIM WHO SHALL BRING BACK THE FORFEITED HONOUR AND RIGHTEOUSNESS OF MEN. As the Person, so the work of the Divine Redeemer is here foreshadowed. The next of kin, to whom "the right of redemption belongs," shall restore the alienated possession. He who shall appear for Job shall spear on behalf of the sinful world, shall make intercession for the transgressors, shall vindicate by his own substitutionary offering the "justification" of "the ungodly."

III. In Job's vision of the appearance of his vindicator at the latter day upon the earth is to be seen THE HIDDEN PROMISE OF THE FINAL APPEARANCE OF THE WORLD'S REDEEMER for judgment, vindication, and salvation of him who "shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

IV. In Job's assured final vision of God, after the destruction of his body, lies THE COMFORTING PROMISE OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD; not in a frail body of flesh, liable to be torn, consumed, destroyed, but in "a spiritual body." So the Church in confident hope chants at the side of the tomb. Thus are the germs of the future and final revelation held in the earlier; thus is laid the ground for faith and thankfulness; thus is the suffering one cheered; thus shall patience and faith and untarnished integrity, though afflicted, be vindicated; and thus shall the faith of the justified ungodly find its vindication in him who is the Vindicator, the Saviour, the Redeemer of sinful, suffering man. - R.G.

Oh that my words were now written!
Job's wish has been gratified; his memorial has found inscription on a tablet compared with which the granite rock is rubbish, and lead a withered leaf. It has found entry in the "Word of God, which liveth and endureth forever." No temple of fame like this. This dying desire of Job to find memorial is much too natural to be at all strange. Nothing is more common in death scenes than to find the departing one rally his failing strength, and eagerly utilise his last few breaths to give final charges that shall be religiously honoured, and with painfully wistful looks try to speak after vocal power is gone. Many and impressive are the lessons that here crowd into the mind.

1. Let us say what we have to say, and do what we have to do, in time, that during life we may so live that in the hour of death we may have only to die.

2. Let us be careful to say and do nothing in life which we shall long in death — alas! unavailingly — to unsay or undo.

3. Let us, above all, speak for God and the Gospel; for that, be assured, if we are conscious and in our right mind, will be what at death we shall be most eager to do, that every word might photograph itself on the everlasting rock, and speak in its living influence long years after we are dead.

(J. Guthrie, D. D.)

As one accustomed to the use of wealth Job speaks. He thinks first of a parchment in which his story and his claim may be carefully written and preserved. But he sees at once how perishable that would be, and asses to a form of memorial such as great men employed. He imagines a cliff in the desert with a monumental inscription bearing that once he the Emeer of Uz, lived and suffered, was thrown from prosperity, was accursed by men, was worn by disease, but died maintaining that all this befell him unjustly, that he had done no wrong to God or man. It would stand there in the way of the caravans of Lema for succeeding generations to read. Kings represent on rocks their wars and triumphs. As one of royal dignity Job would use the same means of continuing his protest and his name.

(R. A. Watson, D. D.)

The secular view is that Job is here expressing a confident hope of recovery from his leprosy, and of justification in the sight of men. The spiritual view is that Job is looking beyond death, and is expressing his belief either in the future life of the soul, or in the resurrection of the body. It is necessary to say a few words, first on the external evidence for the meaning of the passage, and then on the internal. Both seem to me to point decisively to its spiritual interpretation.

I. THE EXTERNAL EVIDENCE is in its favour.

1. Job did not expect recovery at all, much less was he confident of it as a certain thing which could not fail to happen. What his expectation of life was we see from such words as these (Job 17:1): "My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me"; or these (Job 17:11, 15): "My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart,...Where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?" Even if he wavered between hope and fear, he could not use such language as implies the utmost certainty.

2. The Septuagint translation (made by Jews who must, be supposed capable of understanding the Hebrew words, and made by them long before Jesus Christ brought immortality to light, and taught the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead) gives the spiritual sense of the passage: "He shall raise up my body, after these present things have been destroyed."

3. The Jewish Targum on the passage (which must be free from all Christian bias) is also wholly in favour of the spiritual sense. I give its rendering by a great Hebrew scholar (Delitzsch, to which one of our most competent British Hebraists tells me he has nothing to add): "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and hereafter His redemption will arise (become a reality) over the dust (into which I shall be dissolved); and after my skin is again made whole, this will happen, and from my flesh I shall again behold God."

II. THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE is even more strongly in favour of the spiritual sense.

1. Observe the great solemnity with which the declaration is introduced (ver. 23), and how inconsistent this is with the idea that Job refers to recovery from his leprosy, and desires to inscribe that fact on the rock for the teaching of posterity.

2. Mark next the perfect assurance of the writer, which is fully in accord with the strong conviction of spiritual faith, but is quite out of place with regard to a secular expectation.

3. The sublime and spiritual keynote of the whole passage seems thoroughly out of keeping with any feeling which ends in mere temporal blessing.

4. To "see God," which is the burden of his confidence, is surely something more and deeper than the recovery of health. Not to dwell longer then on questions of interpretation, and avoiding minute verbal criticism, I give in substance the probable meaning of the passage, and pass on to consider the spiritual teaching which it implies in anticipation of the Gospel. It is to be regarded as a rock inscription. I know that my Goal liveth ever, and that He, as survivor, shall stand over my dust, and after this skin of mine is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I shall see again; mine eyes shall see Him, and not another for me; for this also my reins do long.

I. WHO AND WHAT IS THE REDEEMER?

1. He is the Goel. The word has two meanings, and it has been disputed which is the correct one here. It means the avenger of blood, and it means the kinsman. Those who have adopted the secular view of the passage have contended that it must bear the former meaning only. But they have surely forgotten that the office of the avenger of blood could not be executed till after the death of the person to be avenged; and that this is one of the indications that not recovery, but something after death is looked forward to by Job. But if we ask what is the root-meaning, the original idea in the Goel, it surely is not difficult to determine. Did a man become kinsman to the murdered one because he was the avenger of his blood? Or did he not become the avenger because he was already the kinsman, and was therefore called on to avenge him? The latter is the truth; and hence kindred is the first idea of the Goel: "bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh." Avenger is the next thought involved in the word: one seeking reparation for our death, and therefore protecting our life by the thought that his sword is behind it. And a third idea is that of deliverance .and redemption, as of family property, by one "whose right is to redeem." Job then is looking forward to such a kinsman — a kinsman in the largest sense, who, being the ideal, shall fulfil all the meanings of the institution; who shall be of the same blood; who shall protect and avenge that blood, after death, of which Job is to taste; and who shall also redeem for him the lost inheritance. Here, too, the dim finger of want and of hope points onward to Him who said of every doer of the will of God: "The same is My brother and sister"; our "kinsman, according to the flesh."

2. The Redeemer or Goal is an everliving person. So the Septuagint aptly, renders the words, "My Redeemer liveth." Job is thinking of and expecting his own death; but he has full confidence that after that there shall arise his kinsman and Redeemer. Yet is it certain that He too may not pass away through death? The reply of Job's soul is, No; He cannot pass, for He lives forever. After my flesh is dust; after, perhaps, all flesh is dust, yet He, the survivor, shall stand over the earth. This is a kinsman "whose years are throughout (and beyond) all generations"!

3. Still further and more remarkably Job's kinsman is Divine. It is impossible to resist the conclusion that He who is the redeeming kinsman of the 25th verse is also the God of the 26th. And the whole interest of the passage centres in this, that Job's kinsman-Redeemer is a Divine person, who shall interpose on Job's behalf hereafter, by revealing Himself after death!

II. WHAT IS THE EXPECTED REDEEMER TO DO?

(J. E. Coming, D. D.)

The words and efforts of Job's comforters were not in vain. Sometimes in bodily inflammations a lenitive is the best treatment, and sometimes a counter-irritant. It is not very different in inflammations of the soul. In Job's case, perhaps, mere condolence would have completed his despair. But when they accuse him of hypocrisy of the basest kind, — when they arraign him as being rejected of God, and lying under the special curse of the Almighty, — then his manhood gathers strength in endeavour to crush the great lie.

1. Job's first step towards recovery was when he found his voice, — though only to curse the day of his birth. The friends who sat silently beside him did this for him. They revived him from the stupor of his grief. Sometimes a sense of pain, and an exhibition of impatience, is a sign of a favourable turn in serious disease; so is it in diseases of the soul. "She must weep, or she will die," sings the poet of the widow, when "home they brought her warrior dead." And so the stupor of despair is always one of the gravest signs. It is true that a terrific lamentation breaks forth from him (chap. Job 3.), unexampled in literature, — a model on which again and again our great dramatist has formed his representations of blank despair. Solomon's despair in the Book of Ecclesiastes is the result of the cynical surfeit of luxury, which finds nothing in life sufficiently important for its regard. But this is the despair of agony and grief, natural and seemingly incurable. Still it marks a slight advance. It is a feeble symptom of returning vigour. Hearts break with silent, not with uttered, grief. Speech is a sort of safety valve.

2. Job's second step towards comfort was praying for death (chaps. 6 and 7; specially Job 6:8-13). Some, ignorant of human nature, fancy comfort would be reached by a great leap; and had they from imagination drawn a picture of a Job finding consolation, their story would have consisted of a record of his despair, and of the visit of some gracious prophet declaring God's fatherhood. Such is not the usual experience of men. "First the blade; then the ear; then the full corn in the ear"; so grace always grows. Accordingly, the next step towards comfort is, though a strange, a great one. To lament a sorrow in the ears of men was some relief, but it marks an advance of the grandest kind when the soul lifts it to the ears of God. Job will not admit the accusation of Eliphaz, but he will act on the suggestion to "seek unto God and commit his cause to Him." He is strengthened by the general testimony of Eliphaz to the justice and mercy of God, while repelling his insinuation that God is punishing his crimes. And so poor Job raises his eye again to his God. It is not a proper prayer, it is much too despairing; it has but little faith, and it involves an accusation against the mercy of God's providence. Blessed be His name, God lets us approach Him thus. He casts out none that come unto Him, even though they come with the presumptuous murmurings of an "elder brother," or with the despairing agony of Job. Whatever you have to say, say it to Him. It is not the proper, but the sincere prayer God wants. And when a Job comes to Him, in his desolation asking only to die, the great Father looks through all the faults of woe and weariness, to pity only the great anguish of the soul. It is not to be overlooked that before the prayer ends, he can address God by one of His noblest names: "O Thou Preserver of men" (Job 7:20). Is it the first Bible name of God?

3. As a further step, Job longs for clearing of his character. At first he doubtless cared but little for this. If his character was crushed beneath the judgment of God, it was just one more victim; and in a world of such disorder — where only disappointment reigned — it would have been something beneath his care whether all his fellow men frowned or smiled upon him. But with returning help and grace he wants something more, — that the approval of God might rest on him (Job 9:32-35; Job 8:2). This longing for a settlement with God, to know why and wherefore he is afflicted, does it not mark some growing force within him? Only from Him, with whom they wrestled, did either Job or Jacob gather the strength by which they overcame. When Zophar assails him, with still more bitter consolation than the rest, he seems to stimulate Job's faith still more. His faith grows strong enough to declare "though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." "I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified." "He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not stand before Him" (Job 13:15, 18, 16). What a hope was even then reached that God would yet justify him — vindicating his character, owning the integrity of his purpose and the sincerity of his religion. The next stage we notice is —

4. We see, again, that Job prays for some blessedness in the other world. There is a wonderful distance between the prayer of Job 6:9 — "O that it would please God to destroy me"; and the prayer in Job 14:13 — "O that Thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that Thou wouldest keep me secret, until Thy wrath be past, that Thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!" The other world emereges into light. Death is not an end of this life merely; it is a gateway to another state of being — a place where God can remember a man, where He can "call" and be "answered," where He can show the "desire," the favour He has to the work of His hands. It is not yet the exultant hope he reaches, but still a hope exceeding precious. The soul feels itself strangely superior to disease and decay, and begins to speculate on what it will do when it "shuffles off this mortal coil." A prophet-poet of the nineteenth century has sung —

"Thou wilt not leave us in the dust,

Thou madest man he knows not why;

He thinks he was not made to die:

And Thou hast made him — Thou art just,"Three thousand years ago, through the same sort of baptism of grief, the patriarch was led to the same conclusions. The Sheol, the place of the dead which had seemed so void of life and being, became to his mind a sphere of Divine activities — "O that Thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that Thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me." "Thou shalt call and I will answer Thee." It is not evangelical divines alone that construe this as a dream of finding fellowship with God in the calm of an untroubled afterlife. Even M. Renan, in his translation, takes the same view. Someone says: "The hope of eternal life is a flower growing on the edge of the abyss." Job found it there, and it was worth all his anguish to reach it. It is not yet a conviction. Doubt breaks in with the question — "If a man die, can he live again?" And the doubt is left there, faithfully registered. But felt and faced as the doubt is, the great dream reasserts itself and fastens on his imagination. So, through cloud and sunshine, over hilltops of vision, and through low valleys whose views are narrow, the soul goes on. At the outset death seemed desirable only because it seemed an absolute end. Now the great may-be that is the beginning of a better life, where God's desire towards the work of His hands will be manifested, dawns on him. It will be lost — it will come back to him — it will seem too good news to be true. He has caught now a glimpse of it. In the next valley he will lose it, but it will never fade away again. Some people forget that each has to find his own creed. The creed cannot be manufactured. Others may give you truth; you must find the power of believing it. So the faiths of men are propagated by living seeds of truth falling on living hearts. But if there is something deeply suggestive in the beginning of his great dream, the hope does not stop there, but grows into assured confidence, for Job reaches an assured hope of immortality. You notice a strange increase of calmness in the mind of Job after Eliphaz and Bildad have spoken. Just in the degree in which his friends become angry he becomes calm. The anger even dies out of his replies, and instead of resenting their upbraiding he tenderly pleads for their sympathy. This calmness grew from his praying; his hoping that he still might reason out his cause with God, and that God would even take his part against Himself. He found a wonderful increase of it in the new thought that he might in the land of the dead walk with God. And thus subsiding into a simple faith, at last the great comfort reaches him of a sure and certain hope — of a blessed immortality. Few eyes that have not been washed with tears can look steadfastly into the world to come. Not as the world giveth does God give peace, but in a different way altogether, — by storm and grief and loss and calamity of direst kind. So He bringeth them to their desired haven. The prophets have been all men of sorrows. Sometimes a little unwisdom has been shown in pressing a dubious translation, and gathering from Job's words a testimony to the resurrection of the body. Whether you should translate his words, "In my flesh I shall see God"; or, "apart from my flesh I shall see God," is, indeed, quite immaterial. We shall probably be safest in taking Job's words in their most general meaning, as details of future conditions were hardly to be expected. But taking his words in the lower sense which all interpreters admit they must carry; taking, say, the interpretation of M. Renan himself, what a wonderful hope they express.

1. That God will be his Deliverer, Protector of person and of character, Guardian and Deliverer in the world unseen.

2. That after death and divested of his body, he yet will find himself the subject of richest mercies.

3. His personal identity will be indestructibly maintained. He will not subside into the general life, but forever be a separate soul; he will see God for himself; his eyes shall behold his very self, unchanged, unite another.

4. And in this relieved and rescued, but unchanged personality, he will have the highest of all bliss — he will see God. And so Job found his dunghill become a land of Beulah — delectable mountains from which the city of God was seen. Faults of murmuring and impeachment of God's dignity are still to be corrected, and his comfort is to be perfected by a restoration of earthly comforts.Leaving them, we only note —

1. God's Spirit is never idle where His providence is at work.

2. We are not following cunningly devised fables. In every age the best have been the surest of an immortality of bliss, and such faith is evidence. See we reach that heaven.

(R. Glover.)

People
Job
Places
Uz
Topics
Book, Grant, Graven, Inscribed, Oh, Printed, Recorded, Scroll, Writing, Written
Outline
1. Job, complaining of his friends' cruelty,
6. shows there is misery enough in him to feed their cruelty
21. He craves pity
23. He believes the resurrection

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Job 19:23-24

     4303   metals
     4336   iron
     4354   rock
     5211   art
     5352   inscriptions
     5574   tablet
     5638   writing

Job 19:23-27

     9315   resurrection, of believers

Library
June 28 Morning
I know that my Redeemer liveth.--JOB 19:25. If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.--This man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Because I live, ye shall live also.--If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

Job's Faith and Expectation
I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. C hristianity, that is, the religion of which MESSIAH is the author and object, the foundation, life, and glory, though not altogether as old as creation, is nearly so. It is coeval [contemporary] with the first promise and intimation of mercy given to fallen man. When Adam, by transgression, had violated the order and law of
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

Job's Sure Knowledge
"For I know that my Redeemer liveth,"--Job 19:25. I DARESAY you know that there are a great many difficulties about the translation of this passage. It is a very complicated piece of Hebrew, partly, I suppose, owing to its great antiquity, being found in what is, probably, one of the oldest Books of the Bible. Besides that, different persons have tried to translate it according to their own varying views. The Jews stiffly fight against the notion of the Messiah and his resurrection being found in
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 50: 1904

I Know that My Redeemer Liveth
Our text deserves our profound attention; its preface would hardly have been written had not the matter been of the utmost importance in the judgment of the patriarch who uttered it. Listen to Job's remarkable desire: "Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!" Perhaps, hardly aware of the full meaning of the words he was uttering, yet his holy soul was impressed with a sense of some weighty revelation
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 9: 1863

Tuesday in Easter Week. I Know that My Redeemer Liveth . . And Though after My Skin Worms Destroy this Body, yet in My Flesh Shall I See God.
I know that my Redeemer liveth . . and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. From the Lesson. [1 Cor. 15:53] 7,7,7,7,7,7 Jesus meine Zuversicht [86]Louisa Henrietta, Electress of Brandenburgh. 1653. trans. by Catherine Winkworth, 1855 Jesus my Redeemer lives, Christ my trust is dead no more; In the strength this knowledge gives Shall not all my tears be o'er, Though the night of Death be fraught Still with many an anxious thought? Jesus my Redeemer lives,
Catherine Winkworth—Lyra Germanica: The Christian Year

My Beloved Put in his Hand through the Opening, and My Bowels Thrilled at his Touch.
The Well-beloved, notwithstanding the resistance of his Bride, [29] puts in his hand by a little opening which yet remains to Him, that is, a remnant of abandonment, in spite of the repugnance of the soul to abandon herself so absolutely. A soul in this degree has a depth of submission to every will of God that will refuse him nothing; but when he unfolds his plans in detail, [30] and using the rights He has acquired over her, calls for the last renunciation and the extremest sacrifices, then it
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

Whether the Essence of God Can be Seen with the Bodily Eye?
Objection 1: It seems that the essence of God can be seen by the corporeal eye. For it is written (Job 19:26): "In my flesh I shall see . . . God," and (Job 42:5), "With the hearing of the ear I have heard Thee, but now my eye seeth Thee." Objection 2: Further, Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xxix, 29): "Those eyes" (namely the glorified) "will therefore have a greater power of sight, not so much to see more keenly, as some report of the sight of serpents or of eagles (for whatever acuteness of vision
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether in the Resurrection the Soul Will be Reunited to the Same Identical Body?
Objection 1: It would seem that the soul will not be reunited to the same identical body at the resurrection, for "thou sowest not the body that shall be, but bare grain" (1 Cor. 15:37). Now the Apostle is there comparing death to sowing and resurrection to fructifying. Therefore the same body that is laid aside in death is not resumed at the resurrection. Objection 2: Further, to every form some matter is adapted according to its condition, and likewise to every agent some instrument. Now the body
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether it Will be Identically the Same Man that Shall Rise Again?
Objection 1: It would seem that it will not be identically the same man that shall rise again. For according to the Philosopher (De Gener. ii): "Whatsoever things are changed in their corruptible substance are not repeated identically." Now such is man's substance in his present state. Therefore after the change wrought by death the self-same man cannot be repeated . Objection 2: Further, where there is a distinction of human nature there is not the same identical man: wherefore Socrates and Plato
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether it was Necessary for Christ to Rise Again?
Objection 1: It would seem that it was not necessary for Christ to rise again. For Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iv): "Resurrection is the rising again of an animate being, which was disintegrated and fallen." But Christ did not fall by sinning, nor was His body dissolved, as is manifest from what was stated above ([4293]Q[51], A[3]). Therefore, it does not properly belong to Him to rise again. Objection 2: Further, whoever rises again is promoted to a higher state, since to rise is to be uplifted.
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Subtlety is a Property of the Glorified Body?
Objection 1: It would seem that subtlety is not a property of the glorified body. For the properties of glory surpass the properties of nature, even as the clarity of glory surpasses the clarity of the sun, which is the greatest in nature. Accordingly if subtlety be a property of the glorified body, it would seem that the glorified body will be more subtle than anything which is subtle in nature, and thus it will be "more subtle than the wind and the air," which was condemned by Gregory in the city
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether the Dead Can be Assisted by the Works of the Living?
Objection 1: It would seem that the dead cannot be assisted by the works of the living. First, because the Apostle says (2 Cor. 5:10): "We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath done." Therefore nothing can accrue to a man from the works of others, which are done after his death and when he is no longer in the body. Objection 2: Further, this also seems to follow from the words of Apoc. 14:13, "Blessed
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Helpless State of the Sinner under Condemnation.
1, 2. The sinner urged to consider how he can be saved from this impending ruin.--3. Not by any thing he can offer.--4. Nor by any thing he can endure.--5. Nor by any thing hr can do in the course of future duty.--6-8. Nor by any alliance with fellow-sinners on earth or in hell.--9. Nor by any interposition or intercession of angels or saints in his favor. Hint of the only method to be afterwards more largely explained. The lamentation of a sinner in this miserable condition. 1. SINNER, thou hast
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

Whether it is Necessary for the Salvation of All, that they Should Believe Explicitly in the Mystery of Christ?
Objection 1: It would seem that it is not necessary for the salvation of all that they should believe explicitly in the mystery of Christ. For man is not bound to believe explicitly what the angels are ignorant about: since the unfolding of faith is the result of Divine revelation, which reaches man by means of the angels, as stated above [2287](A[6]; [2288]FP, Q[111], A[1]). Now even the angels were in ignorance of the mystery of the Incarnation: hence, according to the commentary of Dionysius (Coel.
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether There is to be a Resurrection of the Body?
Objection 1: It would seem that there is not to be a resurrection of the body: for it is written (Job 14:12): "Man, when he is fallen asleep, shall not rise again till the heavens be broken." But the heavens shall never be broken, since the earth, to which seemingly this is still less applicable, "standeth for ever" (Eccles. 1:4). Therefore the man that is dead shall never rise again. Objection 2: Further, Our Lord proves the resurrection by quoting the words: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether after the Resurrection the Saints Will See God with the Eyes of the Body? [*Cf. Fp, Q , a ]
Objection 1: It would seem that after the resurrection the saints will see God with the eyes of the body. Because the glorified eye has greater power than one that is not glorified. Now the blessed Job saw God with his eyes (Job 42:5): "With the hearing of the ear, I have heard Thee, but now my eye seeth Thee." Much more therefore will the glorified eye be able to see God in His essence. Objection 2: Further, it is written (Job 19:26): "In my flesh I shall see God my Saviour [Vulg.: 'my God']." Therefore
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Impassibility and Immortality of the Risen Body.
Besides the attributes which immediately flow from the fact that our animal bodies will rise spiritualized, there are two more qualities, which we shall now consider; namely, the impassibility and immortality of our risen bodies. 1. Impassibility implies the total loss of the power of suffering. What an enormous capacity we have for suffering! The power of receiving pleasure through our senses is only as a drop in the ocean, when compared to our manifold capacities for suffering, in every faculty
F. J. Boudreaux—The Happiness of Heaven

The Resurrection
'Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.' John 5:58, 29. Q-38: WHAT BENEFITS DO BELIEVERS RECEIVE FROM CHRIST AT THE RESURRECTION? A: At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgement, and made perfectly blessed in the
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Whether Explicit Belief in the Mystery of the Incarnation of Christ is Necessary for the Salvation of Everybody
Whether Explicit Belief in the Mystery of the Incarnation of Christ is Necessary for the Salvation of Everybody We proceed to the seventh article thus: 1. It seems that explicit belief in the mystery of the incarnation of Christ is not necessary for the salvation of everybody. A man is not required to have explicit belief in matters of which angels are ignorant, since the faith is made explicit by divine revelation, which reaches men through the medium of angels, as was said in the preceding article.
Aquinas—Nature and Grace

The Resurrection of the Dead
There are very few Christians who believe the resurrection of the dead. You may be surprised to hear that, but I should not wonder if I discovered that you yourself have doubts on the subject. By the resurrection of the dead is meant something very different from the immortality of the soul: that, every Christian believes, and therein is only on a level with the heathen, who believes it too. The light of nature is sufficient to tell us that the soul is immortal, so that the infidel who doubts it
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

Of the Last Resurrection.
1. For invincible perseverance in our calling, it is necessary to be animated with the blessed hope of our Savior's final advent. 2. The perfect happiness reserved for the elect at the final resurrection unknown to philosophers. 3. The truth and necessity of this doctrine of a final resurrection. To confirm our belief in it we have, 1. The example of Christ; and, 2. The omnipotence of God. There is an inseparable connection between us and our risen Savior. The bodies of the elect must be conformed
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Christian Struggling under Great and Heavy Affliction.
1. Here it is advised--that afflictions should only be expected.--2. That the righteous hand of God should be acknowledged in them when they come.--3. That they should be borne with patience.--4. That the divine conduct in them should be cordially approved.--5. That thankfulness should be maintained in the midst of trials.--6. That the design of afflictions should be diligently inquired into, and all proper assistance taken in discovering it.--7. That, when it is discovered, it should humbly be complied
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

Christ the Mediator of the Covenant
'Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant,' &c. Heb 12:24. Jesus Christ is the sum and quintessence of the gospel; the wonder of angels; the joy and triumph of saints. The name of Christ is sweet, it is as music in the ear, honey in the mouth, and a cordial at the heart. I shall waive the context, and only speak of that which concerns our present purpose. Having discoursed of the covenant of grace, I shall speak now of the Mediator of the covenant, and the restorer of lapsed sinners, Jesus the Mediator
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Links
Job 19:23 NIV
Job 19:23 NLT
Job 19:23 ESV
Job 19:23 NASB
Job 19:23 KJV

Job 19:23 Bible Apps
Job 19:23 Parallel
Job 19:23 Biblia Paralela
Job 19:23 Chinese Bible
Job 19:23 French Bible
Job 19:23 German Bible

Job 19:23 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Job 19:22
Top of Page
Top of Page